Leave The Horcrux
by broomstick flyer
Summary: What I think should have happened when Ron left and then came back to the tent


Disclaimer, I was not the one to think up this wonderful world of magic, that was the work of J. K. Rowling.

I was giving the scene where Ron rejoined the hunt for the Horcruxes some thought and I thought that Harry and Hermione forgiving the deserter so easily was rather difficult to believe, having studied people's reactions to various things including betrayal and desertion I came to the conclusion that JKR had it all wrong, (i.e. desertion from the armed services is usually severely punished. Desertion from a spouse usually ends with divorce and alimony etc) hence this little piece where we get a more realistic reaction to Ron returning.

Plus more realism to what would happen to two young people living together in such close quarters. I mean they would have had to share just about everything, from the table to the washing and toiletry facilities. They must have seen each other in various states of undress quite often and two hormone filled teens, totally unrelated by marriage or blood would definitely get some reaction to seeing the other partly undressed or near naked etc.

The first few lines are from JKR's seventh book The Deathly Hallows.

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**We don't trust you Ron**.

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"_Leave the Horcrux," Harry said._

_Ron wrenched the chain from over his head and cast the locket into a nearby chair. He turned to Hermione._

"_What are you doing?"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Are you staying, or what?"_

"_I…" She looked anguished. "Yes—yes, I'm staying. Ron, we said we'd go with Harry, we said we'd help—"_

"_I get it. You choose him."_

"_Ron, no—please—come back, come back!"_

_She was impeded by her own Shielding Charm; by the time she had removed it he had already stormed into the night. Harry stood quite still and silent, listening to her sobbing and calling Ron's name amongst the trees._

_After a few minutes she returned, her sopping hair plastered to her face._

"_He's g-g-gone! Disapparated!"_

_She threw herself into a chair, curled up, and started to cry._

_Harry felt dazed. He stooped, picked up the Horcrux, and placed it around his own neck. He dragged blankets off Ron's bunk and threw them over Hermione. Then he climbed onto his own bed and stared up at the dark canvas roof, listening to the pounding of the rain._

Harry lay on his bunk listening to Hermione sobbing over Ron leaving them, her sobs mingled with the sound of the rain hitting the canvas, slowly he found his temper rising, and the pain in his heart getting worse, thinking it was the Horcrux making him angry he pulled it from around his neck and hung it on the bed post at the foot of the bed.

Lying back down he listened again to Hermione's sobs, just a few minutes later he had reached his breaking point, sitting up he swung his legs off the bunk and sat looking at the chair she was on while he tried to figure out his feelings. Had they changed at all since the death of Dumbledore? As he thought about it he realised that his feelings for Hermione had not changed they had simply become deeper and stronger, he knew now for certain that he was still in love with her, he always would be, but he would not be able to take her moping around crying over the greedy lazy useless slob that had just deserted them, he loved her far to much to see her hurting and he had suffered enough from her actions the year before.

"Hermione," he called out quietly and sat silently waiting for her reply.

Having waited a few minutes he tried again just a little louder "Hermione!"

He noticed the movement beneath the blankets before he heard her muffled voice "Yes."

Harry took a deep breath before he spoke "You should leave, go to Ron," he told her while hiding the hurt he felt, and holding back his own tears.

Hermione raised her head out from the blankets and sniffed as she wiped the tears from her face "I told you before I've had the opportunity to leave you before and I am still here, I don't intend to give up now," she said as she turned to look at him.

Harry got up from his bed and walked over to her chair, crouching in front of her "Hermione I can't do this anymore," he said quietly as he looked into her tear filled eyes.

"Harry we will find them and find a way to destroy them, I know we will," she said just as quietly as him.

"I don't mean the Horcrux, I can't take you crying over Ron any more, you've hurt me enough already, I can't do it again," he said a little louder.

"Harry I don't understand," she said as she sat up a little straighter.

"Last year was my worst nightmare Hermione, it was the worst thing I ever had to suffer," Harry said hoping she would realise what he was talking about without him having to say it.

"Harry you're not making any sense," Hermione said with a truly puzzled look on her face, a look that reached deep into her eyes as well.

Harry took a deep breath before he sighed then having made a decision said quietly "Hermione, I'm in love with you, do you understand me, I love you, I've loved you for years, I don't know much about love, I don't know if this is the kind that lasts forever, I'm only seventeen, but it feels like the forever kind of love, and it hurts like hell knowing you prefer Ron, I don't want to see you hurting, and I don't want to go through the same things you put me through last year, so please I want you to leave, go to him and forget all about me."

Hermione just sat and stared at him until he became uncomfortable and stood up, turning he grabbed his jacket then stepped out of the tent, taking a seat at the dead and cold pile of cinders that had been their fire. He had never wanted to tell her how he felt; he just wanted her to be happy and if being with Ron made her happy that's where she should be, not with him making his heart ache while she cried for another guy.

Inside the tent Hermione was still trying to understand exactly what Harry had said, she was having a little difficulty believing her own ears. '_Harry is in love with me, since when_', she thought.

For a moment she wondered what the previous year had to do with his revelation, how was it that being in love with her made last year his worst nightmare? and then it came to her, all through the previous year she had treated him almost the same way Malfoy treated her, suddenly she felt ashamed of herself, if Harry really did love her as he said then last year she had hurt him far more than anyone else had ever done, including his relatives and Voldemort, what was worse was he probably no longer trusted her the way he used too, she had refused to listen to him, she had also accused him of being paranoid and delusional, she had also practically called him a cheat in the potions class.

She remembered how she had cried on his shoulder while she was feeling jealous about Lavender Brown being with Ron, she realised how that must have hurt him, she had never once in all that year thought about his feelings, every time she was awful to him she must have really hurt him, she remembered that day she called him a cheat, oh how that must have made him feel, he was the most honest person she had ever met, she began to remember that no matter what she had said or done he had still been there for her, she also realised why he had dated Ginny for only two weeks, he was probably trying to take his mind off his pain, pain I was causing.

Now he wanted her to leave him because she was once again crying over Ronald Bloody Weasley, once again she was hurting him. This thought more than the others made her remember why she had wanted to be with Ron in the first place, she thought about the stupid decision she had made, the idea that she could not carry on loving a boy who had a death sentence hanging over him like Harry did with that stupid prophecy was now proving to be the most stupid thing she had ever done. Because of simple jealousy over what her dorm mates had, she had wanted a boyfriend too, and she had simply decided that Ron was her only choice.

She had chosen Ron because she had thought him the safer bet, she already knew he fancied her so with him there was less chance of rejection, so she started to distance herself from Harry and set out to get Ron. In trying to distance her self she had become mean and nasty to Harry trying to push him away, she had even walked out of rooms if he entered, the only time she had spoke to him was when she had wanted a shoulder to cry on, she felt disgusted with her self for treating her first and best friend, the boy who had saved her life, in such an awful way.

When Harry told her to leave what she found odd was she did not want to leave him, 'ever', she didn't want to be with Ron, she just couldn't work it all out, the thought of leaving Harry made a tight knot develop in her stomach, thinking of leaving Harry and being some where warm and cosy with Ron actually made her feel physically sick. She needed to sort out her feelings and do it quickly. The realisation that she wanted to be with Harry no matter what, made her admit to her self that she loved him, and she loved him deeply, she thought she had loved him for a long time, she had simply wanted to deny the fact.

It was an hour before she had thought it all through, it then took her just a few minutes to decide what she was going to do, pulling the blankets off the chair and putting them back on the bunk, she set about tidying herself up a little. As soon as she felt she was ready she called Harry.

Harry entered the tent to see what Hermione wanted, when he looked he saw her sitting on her bed, she was patting the space next to her for him to sit, it was obvious she wanted to talk to him. Harry sat next to Hermione and waited patiently for her to start. He expected the talk to be about Ron, he was not to happy with the prospect but he braced him self and waited patiently.

"Harry, when you told me you want me to leave I had a funny feeling, it was something like fear, it's not something I can properly describe to you, so while you were out side I did quite a lot of thinking, I want you to kiss me," Hermione said nervously.

Harry turned to face her so fast he thought he might have injured his neck "Did I just hear you right, did you say you want me to kiss you, why on earth would you say that, are you trying to make fun of me?" Harry said quickly and rather sharply then standing to storm away.

"Harry when I think of leaving you to be with Ron a tight knot develops in my stomach making me feel sick, when I try to picture my life without you by my side I see only emptiness, that's why I want you to kiss me Harry," Hermione replied calmly, inside her emotions were swirling around and churning some where in the pit of her stomach.

Harry still wasn't quite sure what Hermione was saying but he decided to keep quiet and take this chance to do the thing he had waited years to do. Leaning forward he gently placed his lips on hers, the kiss that began as a chaste hesitant nervous kiss soon became a passionate deep loving kiss and Hermione's heart almost exploded with her love for him when the fireworks went off behind her closed eyelids and her toes seemed to curl up, feelings that made her squeeze her thighs together tightly ran through her, she had never felt so aroused in her life before, and she wanted it to go on forever.

It was only when they were having trouble breathing that they broke the kiss and looked into each others eyes as they held each other panting for breath and trying to bring their bodies back under control.

"Wow," they said together, once they were able to gasp out a word.

Harry sat back and shuffled around trying to get comfortable, and hoping his own arousal was not to visible. 'Kissing Ginny had been pleasant, but that kiss was mind blowing' he thought as he wondered if he would ever get to kiss her again.

It was just one week later when they first shared a bed, they started out just sleeping together to keep warm, sometime during the second week their sleeping together became more than just keeping warm, they made love every night, most nights they made love several times.

The day Ron turned up and helped Harry recover Godrics sword, Harry led the way to the tent and as they entered the wards put up by Hermione, he asked Ron to wait outside while he went in to talk to Hermione.

"I have a surprise outside love, a rather tall red haired man who was greedy enough to eat all our food the last time he was with us is here, I told him to wait while I spoke to you," Harry said as he stood just inside the tent talking to Hermione.

"Tell him to sod off Harry, he left us, we don't need him anyway he never really helped us with anything," Hermione said with a look of disgust on her face.

"Well he was our friend; maybe he has learnt his lesson…" Harry paused a moment, "nah he's never learnt anything before has he?" Harry said sadly.

"Harry every thing we have done since we started Hogwarts we have had to carry him, he would never have got beyond first year if we had not done his work for him, and he has never changed, food and Quidditch are all he thinks about. I don't know about you but I don't want to go back to dragging him along while he does nothing but eat and complain. Besides I don't fancy sleeping on my own again, I like the freedom to play with Mr Magnificent when I want too, I should hate to have to live without the choice of him being inside me when I fall asleep, and now I know I really truly love you I want to be able to kiss you when I want too, and have sex when we want too, and not have to worry about what Weasley might say or if we are hurting his feelings. You can invite him in for a coffee but then he should go back where he came from and leave us to get on with things alone," Hermione told him in no uncertain terms.

Harry thought about what Hermione had to say, he also remembered how Ron had deserted them during the tri-wizard tournament, how Ron had held Harry back in their classes because he kept dragging him away from his homework to mess around, it took no further thought for him to make his decision. Stepping back out side Harry invited Ron in for a coffee.

Ron came in the tent and began to offer a feeble apology to Hermione and was saying he hoped she would give him another chance; he was completely shocked when she answered him.

"Save it Weasley, as soon as you finish your coffee I want you out of here, you have had all the chances you're ever going to get from us, we just don't trust you anymore, you deserted Harry in fourth year and you deserted both of us this year, 'after you ate all the food', you Ron Weasley are nothing but a greedy, lazy, idle good for nothing prat, who lives off other peoples accomplishments, I suppose you were hoping we would take you back so you could share in any glory there might come from getting rid of Voldemort, but Ron, you never helped us, you never do anything but eat or talk shit about Quidditch, you wont do any research, you wont study, you're just plain bone lazy, you just hold us back all the time so drink up and then sod off back to where ever you came from."

"Oh I see I'm away for a short time and Potter steals you from me, well you can both get stuffed," Ron retorted snappishly.

"Ron, you best forget the coffee and just sod off, we don't need your stupid jealous temper tantrums, one day when you learn how to think and how to do a little of that before opening your stupid mouth then maybe you might get somewhere, meanwhile get out of here and don't bother coming back," Harry said angrily.

"Before you go Weasley you should know that Harry did not steal me from you, I was never yours for him to steal away from you. I chose him rather than you or did you forget that, I did that because I have the right to chose who I want, and I most definitely don't want you, not now, not ever," Hermione shouted at him.

Ron started to shout back at Hermione about her being his girlfriend but he never got to finish what he started because Harry grabbed him and threw him from the tent. As Ron stumbled when Harry threw him bodily out of the tent Hermione did a quiet "accio deluminator." and she deftly caught the small tracking tool Dumbledore had left to him, with her left hand as it soared toward her, and slipped it into her pocket. She was sure he had used the deluminator to find them, and she smiled as she pictured his face when he found out it was missing.

The day after Ron's visit Harry decided that they did not need the tent any more, it was far too cold and it was difficult finding some free land they could put it up on, instead of using the tent he decided they should start to stay in bed and breakfast places, of which there was always an abundance with available rooms, it was one of the advantages of living in a highly populated country.

Hermione found there was an added advantage to staying in bed and breakfast hotels and houses, and that was the usually very comfy beds they could make love in, it was so much better using a double bed rather than one of the tent bunks.

Harry discovered where the remaining Horcruxes were accidentally one day while he was suffering one of the rather painful attacks that Voldemort occasionally used through their mind link, for some reason when Harry finally managed to break the link, he was able to painlessly and without being noticed sift through some of Voldemort's memories and he came across the Horcruxes, it seemed that Riddle was wondering if he would be able to produce just one more, while he thinking these thoughts he was subconsciously thinking about those he had already created. Harry managed to speak to Hermione while it was happening and tell her the locations while he carefully read Tom Riddles mind.

Their impossible quest suddenly became very easy thanks to Voldemort, and destruction of the evil pieces of Voldemort's soul was also going to be easy now they had Godric Gryffindors sword to use.

Life for the young couple was no longer looking quite so bleak as it once had. They had a future now and they would live it together.


End file.
